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AlwaysDreaming's avatar
AlwaysDreaming
Explorer
Mar 27, 2018

Battery disconnect and Backup for tow vehicle (Ford)

2016 Ford Fiesta
The owners manual has directions on recreational towing of the vehicle.
With battery connected on key in the ON (II) position, and shift to neutral with foot on the brake. A message does come up indicating "transmission ready". Then you turn the ignition OFF (0). When you do this, you can't take the key out and a message is displayed " Vehicle is not in park" and the key cannot be removed. Then disconnect the battery ground terminal.

Is this what you do with your later model Ford Vehicle?
Do we know why you have to disconnect the battery?
This is problematic as you lose all the the memory settings like
Bluetooth connections, radio presets, and other control centers
presets. I also don't think the electronic locks on the doors will
work.
Is there a device you can plug into the cigarette lighter (12V) that will supply enough power to hold up your settings?
Can anyone confirm that there is no anti-theft steering wheel lock on these vehicles? It doesn't appear to be.

Calling Ford direct was no help, I was told they have no "technical department" (ha ha). Getting ready to call the dealer.
  • dubdub07's avatar
    dubdub07
    Explorer
    Mar 27, 2018
    My Taurus battery will die. So I do the steps, leave the key on, and disconnect the NEG terminal.

    William
  • Ava's avatar
    Ava
    Explorer
    Mar 27, 2018
    Run a 12v wire from the RV to the rear plug and feed it to the battery on the toad. I use a fuse on both sides and a relay to stop current from going both ways when stopped.
  • dubdub07's avatar
    dubdub07
    Explorer
    Mar 27, 2018
    Ava wrote:
    Run a 12v wire from the RV to the rear plug and feed it to the battery on the toad. I use a fuse on both sides and a relay to stop current from going both ways when stopped.


    Which is WAY more work than the 10mm wrench and pulling the NEG cable.

    W
  • OldF__t's avatar
    OldF__t
    Explorer
    Mar 27, 2018
    dubdub07 wrote:
    Ava wrote:
    Run a 12v wire from the RV to the rear plug and feed it to the battery on the toad. I use a fuse on both sides and a relay to stop current from going both ways when stopped.


    Which is WAY more work than the 10mm wrench and pulling the NEG cable.

    W

    Well you only have to do the wiring job once. From then on it's plug'n'play. You don't have to worry about messing with a wrench and the battery every time you go.
  • dubdub07's avatar
    dubdub07
    Explorer
    Mar 27, 2018
    OldF**t wrote:
    dubdub07 wrote:
    Ava wrote:
    Run a 12v wire from the RV to the rear plug and feed it to the battery on the toad. I use a fuse on both sides and a relay to stop current from going both ways when stopped.


    Which is WAY more work than the 10mm wrench and pulling the NEG cable.

    W

    Well you only have to do the wiring job once. From then on it's plug'n'play. You don't have to worry about messing with a wrench and the battery every time you go.


    Undoing the battery 50 times is easier than rigging the plug and play. And you really don't need it. 10mm wrench and 30 seconds or less. SO easy and safe.

    Just my experience. I always do things the easy way and when I sell them that isn't a bunch of stuff I need to worry about taking off.

    W
  • F1bNorm's avatar
    F1bNorm
    Explorer
    Mar 28, 2018
    I use a battery disconnect on my Honda CRV and it is this simple DEVICE. There are lots of other types of disconnect, see Google or Amazon.

    The downside is I have to reset the radio code and clock, but it was the quickest and simplest solution to the problem.

    Norm
  • OldF__t's avatar
    OldF__t
    Explorer
    Mar 28, 2018
    To each his own. In my case I need 12v for the brake buddy so disconnecting the battery is not an option.
  • Teacher_s_Pet's avatar
    Teacher_s_Pet
    Explorer
    Mar 28, 2018
    I use a disconnect like this from Amazon it's low profile and on the negative post of the battery. I have only power from the battery to my Patriot Braking System via a 12volt power socket and cord before the disconnect. The reason I used the negative post was ease of installation vs the positive post. We have not had a failure to start since I put this in on our 2014 Flex, before 6-7 hours towing would need a jump. I charge the braking unit every two days.
  • rjstractor's avatar
    rjstractor
    Nomad
    Mar 29, 2018
    I think a question worth asking is "why does the battery need to be disconnected?" If it's just a simple matter of battery drainage then either disconnecting the battery or rigging up a charge line handles the problem. But if Ford wants the battery disconnected to disable electric power steering, stability control, ABS, the transmission control module or anything else that has the potential to complicate 4 down towing that's a different matter altogether. I have no idea if any of those things are actually an issue, but it's probably worth checking out.
  • dubdub07's avatar
    dubdub07
    Explorer
    Mar 29, 2018
    On the towable Fords, one can disconnect the battery and if you make sure you start it within 15 minutes of connecting the battery, nothing is reset. There is no harm or foul if you disconnect the battery on the late model Fords that you can tow.

    W

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